.htaccess file - 301 redirect

Fretwired

Say I have a domain https:\\www.mydomain.com how do I write a 301 redirect in the .htaccess file to https:\\mydomain.com

I haven't done this for years .....

TimmyO

the command contains the word 'rewrite' if that helps googling

hang on a sec...

TimmyO

http://dense13.com/blog/2008/02/27/redirecting-non-www-to-www-with-htaccess/

TimmyO

it doesn't matter which one you use (www or naked) just pick the one that you prefer stylistically (or lazily - all those 'www' being typed.... :-) ) and use it consistently - helps SEO a smidge 

BigMonka

TimmyO said:

it doesn't matter which one you use (www or naked) just pick the one that you prefer stylistically (or lazily - all those 'www' being typed.... :-) ) and use it consistently - helps SEO a smidge 

I didn't think that 301s were very good for SEO at all, has that changed?

TimmyO

301 should be absolutely fine - it's a *permanent* redirect so google is able to teat it as such.

People extracting money from clients for SEO will debate these things until the cows come home, but at the end of the day if there are links and references to both www. and naked domain your SEO is affected a bit. A 301 should make that effect very small indeed, and a LOT smaller than most other things.  

TimmyO

this is a decent summary:

[quote] While it’s super awesome that Google is no longer “penalizing” 301 redirects through loss of PageRank, keep in mind that PageRank is only one signal out of hundreds that Google uses to rank pages.

Ideally, if you 301 redirect a page to an exact copy of that page, and the only thing that changes is the URL, then in theory you may expect no traffic loss with these new guidelines.

That said, the more moving parts you introduce, the more things start to get hairy. Don’t expect your redirects to non-relevant pages to carry much, if any, weight. Redirecting your popular Taylor Swift fan page to your affiliate marketing page selling protein powder is likely dead in the water. [/quote]

from https://moz.com/blog/301-redirection-rules-for-seo

BigMonka

Thanks @TimmyO that's good info 

:-bd

Fretwired

TimmyO said:

this is a decent summary:

[quote] While it’s super awesome that Google is no longer “penalizing” 301 redirects through loss of PageRank, keep in mind that PageRank is only one signal out of hundreds that Google uses to rank pages.

Ideally, if you 301 redirect a page to an exact copy of that page, and the only thing that changes is the URL, then in theory you may expect no traffic loss with these new guidelines.

That said, the more moving parts you introduce, the more things start to get hairy. Don’t expect your redirects to non-relevant pages to carry much, if any, weight. Redirecting your popular Taylor Swift fan page to your affiliate marketing page selling protein powder is likely dead in the water. [/quote]

from https://moz.com/blog/301-redirection-rules-for-seo

Thanks for that .. figured it out in the end .. :-)

SRich

And in other news.......

I have no idea what you lot are talkin' about but I'll nod sagely.